Feed-actuating device for button-attaching machines



March 2 1926.

F. E. WARNER FEED ACTUATING DEVICE FOR BUTTON AT TACHING MACHINES Filed August 29, 1923 g'npenfoi Patented Mar. 2, 1926.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK E. WARNER, OF W'ATERBURY, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO SCOVILL MANU FACTURING COMPANY, OEWATERB'URY, CONNECTICUT, A CORPORATION OF GON- NECTIGUT.

FEED-ACTUA'IING DEVKOE FOR BUTTON-ATTACHING MACHINES.

Application filed August 29, 1923,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK E. "WARNER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Waterbury, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Feed-Actuating Devices for Button-Attaching Machines, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description. 7

This invention relates primarily to machines for attaching buttons to garments or other articles by means of tacks, and particularly to the means for feeding the tacks for the attachment or setting of such but tons, although obviously other applications of the invention will be apparent.

l\[achines of this type with which I am familiar, and particularly machines of the type shown in the patent of Frank E. Warner and Augustus H. 'Cosgrove, No. 1,499,270, dated June 24, 1924, have what is commonly known as a tack pusher which operates upon the tacks as they are discharged from a tack chute into a tack raceway to automatically advance the tacks in the raceway to setting position upon a setting anvil in timed relation to the operation of coordinated elements of the setting mechanism. It sometimes happens that a tack will be jammed in the raceway, or will be positioned upon the anvil improperly, or that a slug or imperfect tack will be encountered, and it is necessary under such circumstances to retract the tack pusher from proximity to the tack or slug so that the obstruction may be removed. v

The obiect of this invention is, therefore, to provide manually operated means for actuating the tack pusher, independently of its automatic operation, to retract it out of tack engaging position.

To this end. the invention consists in a feed actuating device for button attaching machines. comprising a tack pusher and mechanically operated means for automatically actuating said tack pusher, and other means arranged for cooperation with the tack pusher and its associated parts for manually actuating the tack pusher independently of the automatic mechanical actuation thereof, as I will proceed now to explain and finally claim.

In the accompanying drawin the figure is a side elevation, partly in vertical section,

Serial No. 659,998.

showing enough of a machine of the type above mentioned, to lllustrate the parts comprising my inventlon.

1 is part of a stand upon which is mounted a The setting plunger 3 is arranged in vertical alinement with a setting anvil 8, provided with tack holding jaws 9 arranged upon opposite sides thereof and carried by a frame 10 adapted to be reciprocated by a lever 11 operated through a roller 12 by means of a cam (not shown) also mounted upon the shaft 7.

Buttons are fed to setting position beneath the plunger 3 and over and in line with the anvil 8 through a button raceway 13.

Tacks are fed to the anvil 8 through a tack chute 14 and into a raceway 15, the feed of these tacks from the chute to the raceway being controlled by means of a cutoif 16 suitably operated in timed relation to the operation of the other coordinated parts of the machine.

It will be understood that the tacks, when released by the cut-off 16, fall by gravity into the raceway 15, and it is necessary to have some means for advancing the tacks from this position in the raceway,

to a position upon the anvil 8 in which they are in line with the plunger 3 and the button. For this purpose a tack pusher 17 is provided, having a slide 18 arranged in gibs (not shown) mounted upon a table 19 forming a part of the head-2. As shown in full lines in the drawing this tack pusher is in its full advanced position, that is, the position assumed by it when it has advanced a tack into proper setting position upon the anvil. For actuating the tack pusher I provide a slide 20, having a guide 21 mounted upon a block 22 carried by the stand 1, the guide 21 of this slide being held. in proper sliding relation upon the block by means of a gib 23. This slide 20 carries a roller 24: which is held constantly in contact with a cam 25 by any suitable means, such as a yielding element or spring 26 having one of its ends attached to an extension 27 of the slide and its other end attached to a relatively fixed portion of the head 2. The

slide 20 is normally forced to the right by the action of the spring 26, and, through its connecting link 28 always has a tendency to advance the tack pusher 17 to the position shown in full lines. The contour of the cam 25 is such that during its rotation it will retract the tack pusher 17 substantially to the position shown in dotted lines, in which position it is behind that point in the tack raceway at which the tacks are discharged into the raceway, and will then be allowed to advance under the action of the spring 26 to push a tack fed to the raceway into setting position upon the anvil 8.

As hereinabove pointed out, it sometimes happens that a tack will become jammed in the raceway, or an imperfect tack or slug will be fed to the raceway, and in order to clear out such tacks or slugs it is necessary to retract the tack pusher substantially to the position shown in dotted lines. To ac complish this it would be inconvenient for the operator of the machine to have {to reach around to the back of the machine and pull the slide 20 back against the tension of the spring, and to obviate this I provide the lever 29 which forms a feature of this invention. This lever 29 is pivoted upon a stationary pivot member or shaft or rod 30 which, in the machine used as an illustration, also carries the lever 11 for actuating the tack holding aws 9, and the lever 29 has an upward extension 31 which lies in line with the oifstanding head of a screw 32 which serves as a connection between an upturned end 33 of the slide 20 and the link 28 with which the pusher 17 is connected, so that when the lower portion of the lever 29 is moved to the right, that is, toward the front of the machine, its extension 31 will strike against the head of screw 32 and will push the slide 20 backward against the ten sion of the spring 26, as shown in dotted lines, and thereby retract the tack pusher and permit the removal of the obstruction. Immediately upon the release of the lever 29 the tack pusher will return to a position determined by the position of the cam 25, and the machine will operate as before.

It will be noted that the lever 29 in no way interferes with the operation of the machine, and is brought into play only in case of jamming of the tack raceway or feeding to this raceway of imperfect tacks or slugs, or for any other reason which re quires the retraction of the tack pusher. At all other times the lever assumes the posi tion shown in full lines, and is out of the way of the moving parts of the machine.

It may be stated also that the lever is so designed and its Weight so distributed that it needs no springs or other mechanical devices to maintain it in proper inoperative position, but assumes such position under the influence of gravity.

It will thus be seen that I provide a simple and efficient device for accomplishing the desired purpose, and moreover one which is of sturdy construction and practically incapable of becoming broken or inoperative.

Obviously the device may assume forms other than that shown in the drawing, particularly when it is designed for use in other types of machines, and I consider any such changes as within the spirit of my invention and the scope of the following claims.

What I claim is:

1. In. a feed actuating device for button attaching machines, a tack pusher, mechani cal means for auton'iatically actuating said pusher, a stationary pivot member, and means comprising a normally quiescent lever pivoted upon said pivot member for manually actuating said tack pusher independently of the automatic operation thereof.

2. In a feed actuating device for button attaching machines, a tack pusher, a cam, means connected with said pusher and cooperating with said cam for imparting automatic tack feeding movement to said pusher, a yielding member cooperating with said connecting means for causing cooperation of said means with said cam, a fixed pivot member, and a normally quiescent lever pivoted upon said member adjacent to said connecting means and operable to engage with said means to move said pusher against the influence of said yielding member and independently of its automatic operation.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 27 day of August, A. D. 1923.

FRANK E. WARNER. 

